Stanford University is developing and operating a national shared computing resource in partnership with the NIH Biotechnology Resources Branch to explore advanced applications of computer science in health research. There are two main objectives of the facility: 1) the managerial, administrative and technical demonstration of a national shared technological resource for health research and 2) the specific encouragement of applications of artificial intelligence in medicine (AIM). Besides the economic advantages of resource sharing made possible by emerging data communication technologies, a closer interaction between diverse research efforts is expected to promote a more systematic exchange of research products and ideas. This may be particularly true in applications of computer science. Multi-lateral community building rather than unilateral service is the project's essential mandate. The term "artificial intelligence" (AI) is applied to research aimed at increasing the computer's effectiveness as a tool through the emulation of aspects of human symbolic reasoning and problem solving. The field emphasizes the judgmental manipulation of symbolic (non-numeric) representations of knowledge of a task domain for model building and decision making. Current applications include programs which assist in inferring chemical structures from mass spectral or x-ray crystallographic data, suggesting diagnoses and treatments within various classes of diseases, and modeling aspects of human behavior patterns. Additional users of the facility will be selected within the available PDP-10 computer capacity with the help of an AIM Executive Committee and Advisory Group on the basis of reviews of the proposed research. Selection criteria will include general scientific interest and merit, relevance to the AI mission, and community orientation of the collaborator.